Anand "teh ai" I.'s Profile

Wow. Seriously, wow.

My polkers obsession began a couple of months ago when I was seriously craving some seared ahi tuna. My buddy who lives in Russian Hill recommended this place, and I have not looked back since.

I must caution you that my review caters to just the one item on their menu - the Seared Ahi Tuna salad. That's it. I've been back to this place about once a week since the day my friend recommended this place, and I've gotten just the one thing on the menu although quite frankly EVERYTHING looks freaking delish.

So, if you stumbled upon this review because like me you were craving some Ahi Tuna and Yelp'd Ahi Tuna (with some greens, avacado, lemon vinegarette, with some mild wasabi sauce), then look no further. Just make sure they're open before you head over there - I've heard they close sporadically every now and then.

I'm writing this review as I'm on hold with the Buttes' accounting department for the 3rd time this week. I've never had an experience this bad at any hotel. period.

The first night that I checked in, I was put in a room with a murphy bed (that's right). It was late, I was tired. I accepted. It was around 12.30am. At around 1.45am, I noticed that I was sweating from my feet. It was ridiculously hot (Tempe in the fall is apparently no different from Tempe in the summer). I called the front-desk to let them know the air conditioning wasn't working, and apparently there wasn't an engineer on site, and there were no other rooms available. So, I sweated it out.

6am, I get a rude awakening from an engineer who tries to fix the air conditioning. He blames me for having set the air conditioning to 67F (apparently 69 is what is recommended). But the temperature in the room the time that he measured it was 78F. Anyhow, he fixes the AC, and off I go.

I come back that night, only to find out the AC is bust AGAIN. I call the front desk, the engineers spend a half hour trying to fix it. And they claim they have. But exactly a half hour later at 9.30pm, the AC dies again. I call the front desk, ask them to move me, and guess what - they're out of rooms. So I walk out of the hotel, and move to a cozy Hilton a sweet 1.5 miles away.

Now, I've been on the phone with Caroline from Butte's Accoutning, and she claims that front desk moved me to "several different rooms" at which point I was "uncooperative". I don't usually go out of my way to write a review this crazy, but when I'm called a liar, a switch flips in my head. And for an establishment of this size, to call me a liar, a customer who has diligently paid money (around $250 a night with taxes), is just preposterous. All I'm trying to do right now, is get my money back which is looking unlikely. I've spent about an hour with Customer Serivce and Accounting.

Please, don't stay here. There is a nice Hilton by the airport 1.5 miles away. Do yourself a favor and avoid these pricks.

Is it a men's spa? A bar? A barbershop? A shoe-shining place?

This is truly a man's retreat in the FiDi. I mainly went there today to get my hair cut. But would you believe it that they had no (useful) mirrors around the hairdressing area? I had no idea how my hairdresser was doing. At all. In fact, I almost had to ask her to see a mirror before I left. I found that a bit weird.

MR definitely makes you second guess yourself when you walk in because its a swanky joint and you're not exactly sure how to navigate it. I felt a little apprehensive today as I walked in.

The clientele this afternoon comprised of mostly middle-aged men. Not sure if that's a common theme though.

The staff is great. The service was really good. And I'm happy with my hair. Looking forward to coming back here for happy hour some time.

Nice, I like.

I was telling my friend earlier today that I went to Eos. I was asked to describe the cuisine, and I was stumped. They have everything from shitake mushroom dumplings to madras curry chicken. Go figure.

You almost want to go to this place with a giant party. The dinner portions are small tapas sized. The wait was excusable, but the bartenders at the bar could work on their attitude a tad.

Definitely recommended.

overrated

I was running around one day looking for what I thought could be a good gift. Are flowers are too old school now? I dunno.

Anyhow, I was running around pretty aimlessly for something to occur to me when I drove by Hoogasian - right next to Room and Board. This place seems like a flea market for flowers, of sorts. I wasn't really sure what I was doing there, of I was even supposed to be *in* there. I I was greeted by a "flower elf" in a few moments. Soon, after seeing the really really fresh collection of flowers, I was telling them exactly what I wanted. And this guy created this awesome arrangement right in front of me in about 10 minutes. *I* thought the whole ensemble looked really good.

I liked how they walked me through my options and told me what does and does not work together. Well done. Being a no0b in the flower world, I was impressed. I recommend this place if you don't want to just get somtehing off of http://ftd.com and want to get your own arrangement together.

Hoogasian is also a http://FTD.com florist, btw.

This is probably the best tapas place in the city. That's a strong statement, but find me another place that's this good.

The beauty of tapas is that you can try several several plates before you actually convince yourself that you need to stop eating. There's very little on the menu that I haven't tried, and there's nothing there that I haven't liked.

Except this one time we had a waiter who very rudely cut my friend off (he literally said, excuse me, stop talking) or something... But that was very much a one-time isolated incident (worth taking one star off).

I love the fact that if you're gonna be waiting a while, you can actually get a carafe of sangria and wait outside. That's amazing to me!

Oh also, do NOT leave without having tried the lamb chops. Trust me. :)

Something about a place that makes you feel welcome right from the get-go. I was greeted by the manager, then several servers, the bartenders, the chefs and pretty much everyone else you can think of in this joint.

The salad was great, the chicken I got was awesome and I had no room for dessert as you can imagine. And the best part was I didn't feel like I'd just gorged down 800 million calories worth of anything. The food was 'light'.

Service is a little sluggish, but when you're wining, it doesn't really matter.

I'd strongly recommend this place.

Talk about your fancy upscale Mexican eatery with a Union Square-ish feel. This isn't a fast-food, or Mission-like Mexican joint by any means. But the food is good, the ambiance is welcoming, service is nice, and the guacamole is to die for. The guac is made either mild, medium, or hot spicy and served with nice warm tortillas (as opposed to chips). Very nice.

The $$$ is right on. This place isn't cheap, no sir. The guac alone cost us $10. They have pretty every tequila you can think of on the face of the planet and the drinks are also priced well.

PS: I'm still struggling to figure out how exactly you pronounce Colibri

Disclaimer : I've been going to Nara once a week for a few months now.

What really works for me and my friends are the chefs. We've become good friends with these guys and they are extremely friendly.  Their sushi is fresh, and the chefs usually make recommendations on fresh sashimi.

Their waitresses are temperamental and a little quirky - I would avoid getting a table if I can help it and I'd recommend sitting at the bar.

Above all, how often do you find a Sushi place that's open late (something like 1am Thur-Sat, IIRC).

My favorite roll here is called the "Mikey". Check it, yo.